Newsround: what Wednesday's papers say

The top stories in Wednesday's newspapers:

THE IRISH TIMES

- Controls on the border are likely to return when Britain leaves the EU after Theresa May said she wants to take her country out of key parts of the customs union but she identified retaining the common travel area as a key objective in her negotiations with the EU, the paper says.

- On its front page, it also reports that families are leaving elderly relatives in hospital beds rather than sending them to a nursing home in order to protect their inheritance, the HSE's senior legal adviser has claimed.

- Modular homes, originally intended to provide short-term accommodation for homeless families living in hotels, are to be used as permanent housing for applicants on Dublin City Council's housing waiting list.

- In its business supplement, the paper reports that US secretary of state John Kerry in Davos yesterday defended the outgoing administration's economic record and foreign policy achievements as he urged thE US to build on the success of the last eight years. Meanwhile, Chinese president Xi Jinping launched a strident defence of globalisation.

FINANCIAL TIMES

- Brexit dominates the front page as well with the paper reporting that Theresa May mixed "menace with mollification" as she outlined a plan aimed to take the edges off a hard Brexit feared by business although she vowed to fight back if she failed to get a good deal from the EU's remaining 27 members.

- It also reports that Donald Trump is facing an unprecedented number of outstanding legal issues and unresolved conflicts of interest that stem from his business empire only days before his January 20 inauguration. The development of a luxury hotel in Washington looks likely to be the first conflict of interest, it says.

- Under the headline 'No right turn', the FT Big Read focuses on Spain, reporting that despite an economic meltdown and rampant youth unemployment, the far-right has failed to gain a foothold in Spain.

- In its Companies & Markets section, the paper reports on Amazon's intelligent voice assistant, saying that after a stuttering start, the e-commerce group's Alexa speech recognition device is echoing around the world of technology.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

- A new deal on home care to allow the elderly and people with a disability to remain in their own homes for as long as possible has been promised by the government following growing demands for more financial assistance from the state to provide home care as a statutory right.

- The paper also carries Brexit on its front page, along with a 10-page Brexit special inside, as it reports that Theresa May's pledge to maintain a common travel area with Ireland has been thrown into doubt by senior government ministers and key figures in Brussels.

- Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet a host of top business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos in a bid to lure more jobs to Ireland. The meetings include one with the chief executive of Lloyds of London, the world's largest speciality insurance market.

- The paper also reports on the trial of Sean FitzPatrick, noting a jury was told the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank was borrowing millions up to 2008 to invest in hotels, property syndicates and oil refinery projects.

IRISH EXAMINER

- The government has come under sustained pressure to explain the €120 million black hole which will have to be filled to deliver public sector wage increases, the paper reports on its front page.

- It also reports that the government has been asked to urgently implement promised guidelines for wind farm developments because under law, it cannot carry out noise monitoring unless all turbines in a project are fully completed.

- Ground-breaking research by Irish scientists may lead to new treatment options for oesophageal cancer after researchers at Trinity College Dublin said they believe they have found a way to identify tumour resistance to radiotherapy.

- Thousands of non-EU nationals are paying up to €29,000 for fake documentation which purports to show they have lived in Ireland in order to gain entry into Britain in a multi-million pound fraud which is exploiting European free movement rules.